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December 2013 – Hainan

Hello again, blog! LOL this might just really turn out to be a travel blog, as I don’t even bother to photograph my new nail polishes now :p maybe I’ll get the groove back soon? Well, for the meantime, I give you a sunny photo diary of our recent trip to Hainan, the tropical part of China!

First, where we stayed. After staying in a non-hotel where we almost got apprehended by police, you’d think we would have a nice, normal hotel, right? Well… it was better. We stayed at a retreat center for senior citizens! Yes, that place where you drop off your grandparents or parents when they get old and cumbersome, LOL. The place is called Gong He Fan (can’t type Chinese characters now, please just look at the pictures later), and it is beautiful and serene. Can’t be thankful enough!

The place is also open for outsiders to rent, though. During the time we were there, not only did we share the place with the resident seniors, but we also saw other businesses and organizations holding their conferences there. One of the reasons why? Rates are crazy cheap for the high-quality amenities they offer: our meals were only 50RMB (roughly 350 pesos) a pop! Next time, you might want to consider this place. Here’s the card with the information you need on it:

Sorry for the shot with my washed socks, but I just wanted to show you how amazing the weather was in Hainan. I just fell in love! We went there early December, where people all over different parts of China were starting to bundle up in two layers or more. But Hainan stayed pleasantly cool, with temperatures around 13-20 degrees Celsius. Cool, but not freezing. My kind of weather! Suddenly, I don’t hate winter any more! LOL

One day, after our duties were done, Ptr. Jim, Tita Lui and I decided to go take a walk under the wonderful sunny weather. We heard that there was a beach nearby, but neglected to find out that it would take about 30 minutes of walking LOL. However, we were in no-sweat weather, so it was win-win, actually! We walked to this place called Bai Sha Wan, which turned out to be a sprawling park with a non-swimmable (is there such a word?!) beach.

A pretty creative and different way to present the usual “history of the place” markers you usually see at those famous places…

The park is really such a vast area – you can walk around it the whole day. They also have shops in the form of small lodges like the one above, but we didn’t bother to check the prices. Most probably, ridiculously expensive.

We actually got to the beach first before the other areas of the park. If you live in the Philippines or any other country known for its beaches, you actually feel nothing special for beaches like these. The Chinese, however, treasure whatever beaches they have, and most if not all of it are here at Hainan.

After taking some shots and getting my feet exfoliated, we went on ahead to the other areas of the park! One thing about the Chinese, though, is that they really know how to utilize nature and make their parks really picturesque.

Fun fact: after ooh-ing and ah-ing over these sleeping puppies, we turned around and… came face-to-face with their mother. Good thing she wasn’t in a hostile mood. Haha!

I’d like to end with several shots of what our participants did in one of their exercises:

The Christmas season is right upon us! In fact, tomorrow is December 25, Christmas day by unofficial appointment – the day that children of all ages love and adults smile at once mentioned. But with Jesus at the center of it all, with the memory of His love and sacrifice always fresh in our hearts and minds, it gives us meaning and happiness that transcends the superficial. 🙂 Merry Christmas, everyone!